I love Korean film. Not all Korean films, mind you. Romances like The Classic are a little too sappy, and aside from The Host, most of the comedy in their movies would bore me if it were in English. But when it comes to noir, this country's cinema can compete with the best of Hollywood. (When it comes to horror, they more than hold their own, too.) Looking back over the last few years, I know it was Save the Green Planet that first excited me about Korean film. An homage to Fellini and The Wizard of Oz, Jang Jun-hwan's serial killer thriller struck me as a one-up on Tarantino, the work of an utterly original mind that made me reconsider the importance of man's survival in the universe. (Don't worry! I still think we should live.) After that, Park Chan-wook's Oldboy turned me into a bonafide fanatic. Now I'll watch anything out of Korea. I even rented the abysmal Painted Fire which won the Golden Palm at Cannes perhaps because it reiterated that old truism that art is boring. Some people say that Korea is in the midst of a Golden Age for filmmaking. I think you should listen to those people. I think it's true. This blog's sole intention is to win new converts to Korean cinema and perhaps to figure out for myself what makes Korean movies so damned good.
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